A Lansing woman has entered a guilty plea to a federal firearms charge after her toddler's grim fatal shooting last year. Emma Huver, 26, admitted to being a felon in possession of a weapon during the tragic incident that killed her 2-year-old son, The Detroit News reported.
With a history marred by a felony drug conviction in 2020, Huver was not legally allowed to have a firearm. On the fateful day, Oct. 24, she reportedly had a Smith & Wesson pistol in the car which her son accidentally fired. The tragic development echoes a harrowing statistic voiced by U.S. Attorney Mark Totten, who stated, "Gun violence is now the number-one cause of death for our youngest, ages 0-19," as reported by News Channel 3.
The incident occurred at a Lansing gas station and was caught on surveillance footage. According to Mlive, the video reveals that after Huver's companion, Avis Coward, 44, exited the vehicle, a bullet hole suddenly appeared in the car window. The child suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head in the front seat where previously convicted of six felonies, Coward had set the loaded weapon.
After the shooting, Coward, accompanied by the witness and another defendant, Gina Schieberl, 26, is accused of attempting to cover up the crime by tampering with evidence. They allegedly conspired to burn the SUV and hide the firearm's barrel in a house wall, further complicating an already infamous case. Found by police burned in a Lansing field, the vehicle's evidence of violence was gone, though the tragedy's shadow remains cast long and undisturbed upon the community.
Huver's sentencing is slated for September 16. Also charged, Coward faces multiple federal charges including felon in possession of a firearm and tampering with evidence, each carrying a maximum 20-year sentence. Schieberl is hit with similar accusations of conspiracy and tampering. As the days march on toward the adjudication of this sorrow-filled case, a community reckons with the loss and the fatal confluence of negligence and illegal firearms in its midst.
